New Google Analytics Data Retention Standards Under the GDPR

Beginning May 25th, 2018, the European Union’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) will be in effect. The GDPR is designed to help secure personal information to protect online consumers. While this protection law is based in the European Economic Area (EEA), Google Analytics will now offer GDPR compliant options for data retention for all its users worldwide. This means that Google is updating how much information can be stored in Google Analytics and for how long. Users can select the length of time the data will be saved, depending on their business needs and preferences.

What Are the Options?

Users have the option to set the retention cap between 14 and 50 months or to remove limitations altogether. Once a retention period has been established, the data will be automatically deleted at the selected intervals beginning the following month. The new settings will not, however, affect any analytics reports that reflect older data. It takes 24 hours for any setting changes to be implemented, so you can modify your selection within that time frame and prevent the deletion of data you wish to be kept.

What Personal Information Will Be Protected?

Under the GDPR, any information that can be used to directly or indirectly identify an individual is considered sensitive data. The list includes, but is not limited to:

IP addresses

Cookie data

Location information

Name

Email addresses

What Does That Mean for Plastic Surgery Studios?

At Plastic Surgery Studios, we provide digital marketing analytics services to clients across the globe using Google. All of the Google Analytics data for our clients outside of the EU will be saved indefinitely. We will comply with the new GDPR standards for all of our EU clients and set data retention time frames according to their individual preferences.

Plastic Surgery Studios is committed to collaborating, raising standards, and taking care of our clients. Whether you are interested in working with us, have general inquiries, or just want to say hello, we would love to hear from you.